Olsson, Mikaela

Abstract [en]

In all equestrian sports except for individual voltige, men and women compete on equal terms, which otherwise is very rare in sports. This study examines from a gender perspective how female and male riders are reffered to by expert commentators in competitions. The aim is to see if there are differences in how the riders are depicted and mentioned based on gender. The material consists of comments about eight rides, four performed by female riders and four by male riders, from two large international world cup competitions in dressage, broadcasted on SVT in 2012 and 2013. The material has been transcribed and then analyzed using content analytic method with a quantitative and a qualitative part. The results of the survey’s quantitative part showed that the male riders were reffered to by their first and last name in combination in more cases than the female riders, although ”she/he” was the type of mention most used for both male and female riders. The results of the survey’s qualitative parts showed that gender stereotypes of neither sex occurred to any great extent and that the comments about external factors, such as riders appearances, while there weren’t that many, were nevertheless used similarily for both sexes, even though the material analyzed didn’t produce many examples of comments of this sort.